


Struck By Lightning

by CadetEyes



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-01-08 13:53:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetEyes/pseuds/CadetEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Getting struck by lightning is not, as one might assume, the worst part of getting struck by lightning. *Edited*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Something that I've been working on for a bit. I know that this idea is going to get 86'd the moment Blast Radius airs, because I already know a bit of what happens to poor Barry and this is not it. I just wanted to post this before the new episode. Also, I'm assuming that the time line in the show is fairly close to the air date, so I'm using December 11 as the date Barry goes back to Central City

Getting struck by lightning is not, as one might assume, the worst part of getting struck by lightning. 

At least for one Barry Allen, the worst part is waking up after. His brain is running a million miles an hour before he even becomes fully conscious, stating the probability of getting struck, the odds of survival, and how lucky he would have to be to come out of this without lasting damage. 

More luck than you have, Allen.

And with that he tells his head to shut up before he pokes it with a cotton swab. He's survived it, and doesn't feel like that's going to be changing anytime soon, so he decides he has more important things to worry about. 

Like the incredibly uncomfortable shelf he's lying on. You know, the one that's digging into the most painful places it could possibly find on his back, added with the glass shards from the beakers he crashed into. Beakers that thankfully weren't holding any chemicals that shouldn't be spilled, because they're now all over him, soaking into his clothes and skin, and all over the floor, combining into a mess that's going to be a bitch to clean up. But again, things to worry about later. 

Barry carefully pulls himself off the shelf, and notices for the first time that the powers come back on. The storm has also passed, which is something he's grateful for, since he's pretty sure he won't be able to hear thunder without flinching for a while. It's still dark out, so he assumes that only a few hours have passed since the incident. 

A noise above him makes him look up, and Barry marvels at the broken skylight. He never knew lightning could do that, even nuclear explosion powered super lightning. 

Standing proves to be a bit trickier than it should be, because apparently he's not nearly as okay as he originally thought he was. The world starts turning in sickening circles the moment he's vertical, and Barry has to lean on one of the support pillars for a few minutes while the dizzy spell passes. Once it does, he stumbles over to his television, vaguely hitting at it until it turns on and the news starts playing. 

'Its been two days since the S.T.A.R Labs particle accelerator went into full meltdown, and the city is still in chaos.'

Barry hits the screen so quickly to turn it off that he's fairly certain something broke. 

He starts backing away from it slowly, staring at it wide eyed like it would randomly attack him. 

Two days? There is no way it's been two days. He'd know if he was unconscious for two days. 

He jumps back towards the desk and snatches up his phone, ignoring the multiple missed calls and texts to check the date. 

December 13th. 

Two days. It's been two days since he was struck by lightning. Two days that he's been lying there, and not one person came looking. Not one person. No one. 

That hits Barry a bit harder than he thought it would, and before he knows it he finds himself in his bathroom, gripping the sink and hoping that whatever might be in his stomach doesn't make a surprise appearance. 

It thankfully doesn't come to that, but as he stands there, he notices that his hands are shaking. From which shock, he's not sure, but he's shaking. Badly. And apparently making horrible lightning puns, so maybe he's not as bad off as he thought. 

He doesn't know how long he stands there white-knuckling the sink, but after some time, he hears a weird noise coming from the main door. It sounds sort of like someone breaking in, but after the last two days, Barry can't bring himself to care all that much. Also, the door is on a pretty advanced key card lock, so he'd love to see them get through that. 

Less than a minute later, the door slides open, and Barry curses himself for speaking to soon. He can hear the intruder moving around in the main room, and he knows the moment they find the chaos it's become by the shocked gasp he hears. The intruder says something in a whisper, and a voice that Barry can almost recognize responds with 'I don't know.'

When the first intruder calls his name, he recognizes it as Felicity, and the wave of relief is so strong that it makes him even dizzier than he was before. He goes to move, but barely makes it a step before the world tilts the wrong way and he finds himself crashing into the wall, landing rather ungracefully on the floor. He thinks he must've made a fair bit of noise, because before he can get the world to right itself, Felicity is suddenly in front of him, calling his name again. Except apparently Felicity has a problem with using her inside voice when she's worried, and it sends a stabbing pain through his head. He can't help groaning at the pain and screws his eyes shut against the suddenly too bright darkness. He also has a silly notion that if he doesn't hold his head together, it's going to fly to pieces, which is how he finds himself gripping at his hair. 

He can hear the yet unidentified intruder say 'Shh Felicity' and then there are two hands holding his, pulling them away from his head, and another gripping at the back of his neck, and he's surprised to find the dizziness subsiding. 

It takes him a few minutes to be able to open his eyes again, but when he does, it's to Felicity holding his hands, and to his surprise, Oliver kneeling next to him. 

'Hey Barry. You with us?' Felicity asks, much quieter than she was before. Barry nods in response, and tries to gives her a reassuring smile, but he's fairly certain it comes out as more of a grimace than anything else. 

'What happened? We saw the mess,' Oliver says. He's not using his no nonsense vigilante voice, the one Barry's become used to hearing from him, so Barry can only assume that means he's worried. And to worry the great Oliver Queen, he must look just as bad as he feels. 

Barry tries to say 'lightning' but when he talks, his voice is barely more than a raspy croak, and he's sure it was hardly understandable. Thankfully, Felicity is still her wonderful self, and she does understand him. 

'Lightning? What do you mean lightning?' 

Barry squints up at her, unsure if he should tell her the truth. Felicity can be scary when she's worried, and Barry isn't sure he's up to dealing with her kind of concern. 

'Wait. Do you mean you were struck by lightning?' Damn Oliver. He's smarter than he looks. Barry just nods, trying his best to not look guilty.

'Struck by lightning?' Felicity asks, and damn her she's being loud again. 'What do you mean struck by lightning?'

'Felicity, please. Inside voice,' Barry groans, sounding just as pathetic as he feels. Maybe that can earn him some sympathy points. He tries to bring his hands back up to his head to try to fight off the new stab of pain caused by Felicity's outburst, but she's still holding them in a tight grip. He tries to fight back, feeling like his head is going to fly apart again and that he needs to hold it together, but Felicity won't let go, and he starts to panic. There's a rational part of his brain that's telling him his head isn't really going to fly to pieces, and that it would stop if he'd just stop focusing on it and relax, but everything is starting to catch up with him and he just can't. He'd be fine if he could just get his hands back from Felicity, but she won't let go, and she might be saying something to him, but his hearings gone all weird and he can't make out what it might be, and the panic is growing and he's sure his head is about to fall apart, and now he can't seems to get enough air, even though he knows he's breathing, or trying to at least, because of course hyperventilating is just what he needed to add to the growing list of things wrong with him at the moment. 

He becomes aware of Oliver holding the back of his neck again, and as the panic and pain is subsiding again, he realizes that Oliver is gripping at just the right pressure points to get him to calm down. As his hearing comes back, he can hear Felicity calling his name again, and feel one of her hands running slowly through his hair, and it grounds him more than he can think about. 

'Sorry,' Barry gasps out, then draws a breath that makes him cough. 'Sorry. I'm okay.'

'No, you're not. We need to get you to a hospital.' He notices Felicity nod at Oliver, and then they're both helping him stand. He has to rely on them for support more than he'd care to admit, but as the world tilts around him again, he's thankful to have them there. 

'No, really. I'm okay,' he tries to tell them, even though he can't quite seem to get his feet to listen to him. 'I just... I need.... I'm fine.'

'Have you looked in a mirror at all? Because I don't think your particular shade of grey is one typically found on humans,' Oliver says. Barry wants to glare at him, and actually turns his head to do so, but the movement causes that sickening world tilt and he finds himself falling towards Oliver's shoulder.

Except he lands not against Oliver, but against the rolling bulletin board in the main room, sending it crashing to the floor, him with it. Oliver and Felicity come rushing in from the bathroom with identical looks of worry and confusion on their faces. 

'What just happened?' He asks, noticing that even as Felicity runs over to him, Oliver is keeping a bit of a distance. 

'One second you were there, the next you were.... Here.' Oliver is looking at him with concern, and Barry can't help but think that he knows something important. 'You were kind of a blur.' 

'Barry? What happened to you?'


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear me. What is this? It seems people liked that silly little ficlet, and wanted to read more. So here I am to deliver. Yes, it's true. I, Cadeteyes, am breaking my cardinal rule of if writing and turning this into a multi chapter story. So a few warnings before we begin. First, seeing as I am horrible at writing multi-chapter stories, I will warn you now to not expect any type of schedule as to when I update this., and expect fairly short chapters. So far I have 4 chapters planned, but that may change. Second, I know nothing about the Flash except for for the basics and what Arrow has told us, so if I get something wrong, I apologize. Thirdly, this story I suppose can officially be considered AU, seeing as the show picked back up 5 weeks after Three Ghosts, but I started two days. For the most part, the events will be the same, but just earlier. That all being said, please enjoy the second chapter of Struck By Lightning.

"Okay," Felicity started, looking at Barry, who was sitting hunched in a chair with his elbows on his knees. "From the beginning, what happened?"

Barry sighed, running a hand through his hair. They had taken the time to clean up the mess his apartment had become, giving him the chance to try to wrap his head around what was going on. Unfortunately, in the two hours it took, he was still no closer to figuring it out. 

"After I got off the phone with you, the power went out and the reactor went into meltdown. I went to close that skylight, and got hit by super lightning, which you saw the end result of. Then I laid there for two days while not one person thought to come looking for me." 

Barry didn't need to see Felicity's frown to know he was being rude, he could hear it for himself. He honestly didn't mean to, but after getting over the shock of his inter-room teleportation act, he found himself filled with a restless energy. No longer feeling sick, but now Barry felt twitchy and jumpy. He found himself continuously drumming his fingers against the nearest surface, and his leg had started bouncing on it's own about six minutes ago. It's was making him agitated, and he wasn't sure why. 

"We would've," Felicity said quietly. "Honestly. I wanted to right after we heard about what happened, but Shrapnel-"

"I know. You had to stop Shrapnel. I know. I'm sorry for snapping." Felicity and Oliver had told him about Mark Sheffer, the man who decided to use the chaos in Central as a cover to try to blow up a rally. 

Felicity smiled at him. He knew she got there as soon as she could. He was thankful for it. 

"Let's focus on what's important. And that's figuring out how you managed to pull a Jumper and wind up at different place barely without moving," Oliver said. He had yet to come within more than three feet of Barry, something Barry had definitely noticed. 

Barry turned to Felicity with an amused grin. 

"Jumper? All the movies in the world, and he's seen that monstrosity?"

"He's been stranded on an island for five years. Don't hold it against him."

"Back to the point, please." 

Barry and Felicity shared one last look before Barry turned his focus to Oliver, and caught the tail end of Oliver's 'I'm more important than you' puff up, and couldn't help but grin. 

"I don't know what's going on with me. Honestly, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that I survived being struck by lightning. Which, granted isn't uncommon, seeing as about nine out of every ten people do. But, statistically, how many of those are nuclear explosion powered super lightning strikes?" Barry stopped suddenly, wondering why he was rambling. He was going to blame the excess energy. 

"Maybe I have super powers now!" Barry joked. 

"You don't have super powers," Oliver replied curtly. He did his feather ruffle move again and settled into a position obviously meant to make him look intimidating. 

"Well why not?" Barry asked. "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised." 

"This isn't some Marvel Spider-Man type of thing. You can't get super powers from a freak lab accident because super powers don't exist." 

"Then what, huh? What explanation could there possibly be for what's going on with me?" Barry stood up, fully intending to step into Oliver's personal space. He wasn't sure why, but he was angry, and having the great Oliver Queen regard him like nothing more that a child whom he was humoring really didn't help. He took a step closer, but was stopped by Felicity stepping between them. Immediately the anger drained away, and he felt foolish to have gotten that way in the first place. 

"Look, I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for what's going on. It's probably just a side effect of what happened, it'll probably wear off soon." Felicity said, her gaze switching between. Barry and Oliver, acting as a buffer between then two of them. "I get you don't want to go to the hospital, so why don't we head back to the hideout. You can use the equipment there to run tests and things."

Barry nodded. Felicity was right. Felicity was always right. They would figure this out. He would figure this out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! Chapter three! Short little thing today. This wasn't where I wanted this chapter to end, but I felt the need to post something to celebrate the CW picking up The Flash, so I made it work. Turns out there will be more than the originally planned four chapters, but I don't know how long it's going to take. I know where I want to go with this, but not how to get there. Warning, I kind of winged it with Barry's abilities, so sorry if I got it wrong. I promise I'll research when I actually get more into it. Anyway, here's chapter three

"No. I've explained this. It's not disappearing from one place and showing up in another. It's more like moving at the speed of light between two places."

Barry looked between the two faces staring at him with varying degrees of confusion. Only Felicity looked even close to understanding, and even she looked lost.

Diggle shook his head like he was trying to clear away cobwebs. "I get that part. What I don't get is how."

"This didn't happen until after I got hit by lightning, so it would be reasonable to assume that was the cause. I haven't figured out how lightning could give me superpowers yet, though."

Barry turned back to the computer in front of him, studying the screen that was showing a digital rendering of his own DNA. It had been a few days since they came to the foundry to find answers, and all that Barry had found so far was that his DNA was acting weird, regenerating at rates he's never seen before, and that whatever this new ability was, it was difficult to control. He had already crashed into three walls and a computer tower, none of which were in the directions he was trying to go in, before Oliver forbade him from practicing inside.

Of course, Oliver wasn't there at the moment, off with Sara dealing with someone named Nyssa, so Diggle and Felicity were more than eager to let him show off.

"Probably, when the S.T.A.R Labs reactor blew, it did something to the atmosphere, and that, mixed with the exposed chemicals you had sitting around, did something to you. I think." Felicity said, shrugging at the raised eyebrow she got from Diggle. "What? It's not like this is something I can google search. 'Radiation powered lightning strikes' would probably give me some D&D site or something."

"Is it permanent?"

This time, Barry shrugged. "I honestly don't know. So far, yes, but it hasn't even been a week. There's no past cases of this for me to base anything off of."

They lapsed into silence that, each of them turning back to their own projects. It was a few minutes before Felicity broke the silence.

"How are you feeling anyway, Barry? Are you doing okay?"

"For the most part, yeah, I'm feeling great. A little jumpy and fidgety, but I think that has to do with the powers. It's been like this for a few days, but it always gets better when I practice."

"So practice. Oliver isn't here to yell at you to stop."

Barry nodded, standing up and moving out of the way of the computers. He focused on a clear part of floor, concentrating as hard as he could to actually end up there.

'Okay, Allen, you got this. Clear your head. Just concentrate. Close your eyes... And...'

"Oh, _fuck_!"

In the next moment, Barry was on the floor, surrounded by the shattered remains of the glass Arrow suit case he had crashed into.

"Barry! What the hell?" Oliver was suddenly at the stairs, looking down at them with incredulous anger. "This is why I said no practicing in here. We just had that replaced."

"In my defense, I wasn't aiming for the sharp, breakable glass."

Oliver shook his head. "Out. If you insist on doing that, you have to go outside."

"Is that a good idea? I know if I saw some random person appearing out of nowhere I'd be a little freaked out," Diggle stated. Oliver went over to one of the chairs, picking up the red hoodie sitting on it and tossing it to Barry.

"Here. Roy uses it to hide his identity. It'll work fine for you."

Barry slid his arms into the jacket, pulling the hood over his head and feeling utterly ridiculous.

"I'll go with you." Felicity stood up from her desk and led Barry out of the foundry, through Verdant, and out into the city.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blah blah blah bad excuse for why it's been so horribly long since I've updated. My only excuse is that this chapter just wouldn't come together! I wanted to add more, but I wanted to get this up, so here you go. I've done my research into the Flash like I promised, and decided that, since this is sort of an origins story of sorts, only the most basic of his abilities will be included. Also, I'm changing some of what happens in Time Of Death, and the rest of this story, which at this point will probably be another two chapters, will take place during that episode. Okay. Yes. Here we go

Barry and Felicity found a fairly secluded spot in a nearby park, a large clearing surrounded by trees that kept anyone who might stumble upon them away, and spent the next few hours exploring what Barry could do. So far, it had been a very long, and mostly unsuccessful day of Barry trying to hone his new found abilities. He was getting better at hitting his aimed mark, but more often than not he got up close and personal with the foliage. One time he had even ended up going backwards, though he couldn't figure how he managed that one. 

They had also discovered that he possessed some pretty awesome speed healing powers, which Barry found fairly useful considering how often he fell and made some part of his person bleed. The scientist in him marveled for a good twenty minutes after he first watched a shallow cut on his hand heal away to nothing in seconds, and he made Felicity keep a record of what was happening so he could study it later.

They were lounging in the grass, enjoying the last few rays of sun before it got dark and talking about what they found, when Barry's phone started ringing. 

"Bartholomew Henry Allen! What the hell is wrong with you?" Iris yelled by way of greeting. 

"Hey Iris. What's up?" Barry replied, wincing at the crack in his voice. 

"You did not seriously just ask me that, did you? Nearly a week of radio silence from you, during which Central City has been in disaster, and you start with 'What's up?' I can't believe you!"

"I'm sorry. I would've called you, but I had to... Um.... Get away."

"What the hell do you mean you 'had to get away?' Get away from what?" 

Barry flinched as Iris continued to yell at him from the other end of the call. 

"It's.... Complicated. I just need you to trust me for a bit." 

"That's not going to fly, Allen. After everything that's been going down with the city, you can't just disappear for days without telling anyone. Without telling me!"

"Iris, what do you want me to tell you?" Barry sighed. There was a pause and a returning sigh before Iris answered, quieter that she was a minute ago.

"I want you to tell me the truth. When I saw what happened to your place, I was afraid you were in trouble. Just... Just tell me your okay, and that I can stop worrying."

Barry smiled. "You don't have to worry. I'm okay. I'm in Starling with a friend. I needed to get away for a few days to figure things out".

"Figure what things out?" Iris asked. 

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Barry seriously considered telling Iris everything. About the lightning and the super speed and everything else that's happened to him this week. Iris was the one person he could always trust to believe him, no matter how crazy he sounded. 

But this? This was too crazy, even for him. There was no way he could burden her with this knowledge. He couldn't do that to her. 

"I can't. Just believe me when I say everything is alright."

"Whenever you say 'Everything is alright,' everything is decidedly not alright. Whatever the hell you're up to, just promise me you won't do anything stupid"

"I promise. No stupid from me. Cross my heart and all that."

"You're a horrible liar, did you know? Be careful." With that, Iris ended the call. 

Barry pocketed his phone and looked up at Felicity, who looked like she was tying very hard not to laugh. 

"What?"

"Bartholomew," Felicity giggled. 

"Shut up," Barry groaned.

"Seriously though. Is everything okay back in Central? Do you need to go back?"

Barry though for a moment. Did he need to go back? Yes, he did. That much was clear. He couldn't help but think that if the hydron colliders explosion did something to him, could there be other people like him? He needed to know. 

But was he ready to? That he wasn't so sure about. Going back meant facing the truth, and the subsequent consequences of that truth. And what if there wasn't others? There were so many questions to be answered, and not enough facts to do so. 

Barry sighed. "I don't know."

"Yes you do," Felicity replied quietly. "You're using Starling as an excuse. As a place to hide. It's about time you went back to your life. To your friends."

"What if I'm not ready?"

"Do you really think you'll ever be? Look at Oliver. I don't think he's even ready, and he's been at this for a lot longer. Putting it off isn't going to change anything."

Barry was quiet for a moment, before he sighed heavily and shook his head. 

"Felicity, you are remarkable."

"I know. Come on, let's get back." Felicity stood up, straightened her dress, then held out her hand for Barry. 

It was full dark by the time they got back to the foundry, and they found Oliver and Sara talking quietly, having over pictures laid out on the table. 

"What's going on?" Felicity asked. She joined them at the table, seeing the pictures were of a body, and that there were also notes about some sort of device. 

"This guy was involved in a robbery this morning. Some kind of device that apparently can open any door. Like a skeleton key." 

Barry watched as Felicity, Oliver, and Sara talked over the situation. A thought struck him suddenly. A perfect idea to test his powers, and avoid leaving Starling for a little longer. 

"Maybe I can help."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. My. God. Guys, this is it. The final chapter of Struck By Lightning. We've reached it. Thank you to everyone who read this. You all rock. I'll say more at the end. But for now, enjoy.

“Alright. Is everyone clear on the plan?” Sara asked, her voice filtering through the earpiece Felicity had fitted him with earlier.

“The only part I’m not clear on is why Barry is a part of this.” This time it was Olivers annoyed voice Barry heard through the comm.

“So that I can save your butts if you end up being too slow and this guy gets away,” Barry replied, unable to stop himself from egging Oliver on.

“I’ll show you who’s too slow!”

“Boys!” Felicity yelled, causing them all to jump. “You can lay them out and measure later. For now, stick to the plan!”

The plan was this. Felicity, being the brilliant computer genius she was, was able to get a track on the signature of the skeleton key. That led them to Starling City First National Bank, where their guy and the police already were. Oliver and Sara were to enter through the side and back doors, in an attempt to try to corner their would-be robber. Barry, who was once again wearing the ‘Not at all conspicuous’ red sweatshirt, was stationed by the street, as a last ditch effort in case the other two didn’t succeed.

Of course, Barry thought it was all seemed rather silly. The police had the building surrounded, so he didn’t see a way their guy could give Starling City’s finest the slip. He would admit that he was probably being a little biased, working alongside Central’s police force, but he was pretty sure SCPD could do their jobs well enough.

But if it postponed his return to Central City, Barry wasn’t going to start complaining.

So Barry stayed as far out of sight as he could without actually being away from all the action, as was his part of this mission. He needed to be able to reach any part of the building in a flash, so that included actually being able to see the building.

That also included his utmost control over his super speed, which he assured Team Arrow he had. He just hoped he wasn’t lying.

Barry was stuck behind the police barricade, hood pulled up to hide his face as best as possible, looking the part of just another spectator. He was starting to wonder if anything exciting would happen when Sara spoke through the comms again.

“Barry! He got away! You’re up!”

“Which way did he go?” Barry asked, already moving towards the alley to the side of the bank. There didn’t seem to be anything there, just an old delivery van and lots of garbage.

There was a sigh that sounded very much like Oliver getting ready to deliver bad news.

“We don’t know.”

“Well that’s helpful. He couldn’t have gotten far yet, police have this place surr-” Barry trailed off as he noticed the van again. He was still a whole street length away from the alley, but was that a router antenna on top?

“Barry?”

“West Entrance. He’s got a getaway plan!”

“You know what to do! Stop him!”

Easier said than done Canary.

Okay Barry, now’s your time. You got this.

At that moment, their goon made his exit, smashing through the door and nearling crashing into the side of the van. He jumped inside and the van started, and was about to peel out of the alley, but there was suddenly an idiot in red standing in his way that wasn’t there before. Barry, amazed that is actually worked, went to move towards the doors, when the van started reversing towards the opposite street behind them. Barry went to move in flash forward to block them again, but found his way blocked by a dumpster that definitely wasn’t in his way before.

Damn. Alright let’s try this again.

Barry tried to speed behind the van, but of course his abilities chose that moment to fail him. He cursed and jumped towards the van, grabbing the back door handle and managing to slide it open as the van kept moving, and was greeted by a man with a gun.

“Crap.”

“Barry! Down!” This time Sara’s voice was coming from right behind him, so he did as he was told, and got out of the way just as Sara fired at the man in the van. It sped away and Saras ran after it, getting off a few more shots before it was out of range. Oliver chose that moment to join them, and when he saw the van gone, Sara looking angry at the road behind the bank, and Barry on the ground, he said what everyone was thinking.

“Damn”

* * *

 

“You said you had control over your abilities!” Oliver yelled.

“I do!” Barry yelled back. “Mostly. Besides, this wasn’t my fault!”

“Mostly doesn't cut it, Allen. He got away, in case you didn’t notice.”

“That’s because you weren’t able to stop him. I’m not the vigilante here.”

“No, but you insisted you could help. You said you’d be able to stop him if he got passed us.”

“Oliver, be fair. All of this is new to Barry,” Felicity said. Her and Sara were standing by the computer bank in the foundry, watching Oliver and Barry throw words from across the lab table.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Oliver said, no longer yelling. That almost made it worse, because now he was using his vigilante voice.

“Fine. Sorry for trying to help.” Barry took off the red hoodie, threw it on the chair behind him, and disappeared up the stairs into Verdant.

“Wow,” Felicity said, turning back to the computers.

“What?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all, Oliver.”

“Felicity.” Oliver moved towards her, trying and failing to get Felicity to look at him.

“It’s just funny,“ Felicity started, spinning around in her chair. “How jealous you are of him.”

Oliver just cocked his head at her, raising an eyebrow in question.

“She’s right, you’re jealous,” Sara agreed from beside her. Oliver turned his gaze towards her, and Sara raised her hands in a gesture of peace. “I’m just calling it like I see it.”

Oliver scoffed and crossed his arms, giving the two girls the patented Queen ‘I’m disappointed in you’ stare. “How could you possibly think I’m jealous of him?”

Felicity and Sara looked at each other, silent communication floating between the two, before turning their attention to Oliver.

“Well, for starters, he basically has superpowers. If there was anyone who would be jealous of that, my guess is the infamous Starling City vigilante would be that guy.”

“Okay, say I was acting out of jealousy, which I’m not, what do you want me to do? He said he had a handle on this, but the guy got away because he didn’t”

“Oliver, he got away because we weren’t ready. That means all of us, you included,” Sara said. “Barry’s had the abilities for what? A week? He’s doing the best he can.”

“He let him get away.”

“He slowed them down enough for me to get a few good shots in. We were able to get a blood sample from the other guy in the van. Considering Barry has zero experience doing stuff like this, I’d say that’s a good start.”  

Oliver sighed, realizing he’d been defeated.

“So what do you want me to do?

* * *

 

Barry was a little weirded out, but not actually all that surprised, that Verdant was empty. It was nearing early morning, so the club had closed hours ago. Even Thea had gone home it seemed.

That was well and fine by him. He found the quiet to be comforting, even if it let his thoughts run. And boy were they running. His head would come up with a new idea, plan it, think it through, find solutions, and move on to the next before he even realized it happened. He supposed it was another side effect of his abilities, just another thing to add to his list of weird.

Now if only a certain green clad nuisance would leave him alone, he’d be golden.

“Did Felicity send you up here?’ Barry asked the moment Oliver came out of the door that led to the foundry.

Oliver nodded. “She said I need to apologize to you.”

“Did she now?”

“She was right.” That was a surprise to Barry, Oliver admitting something like that. He’d only known Oliver for a short time, but it was pretty clear how stubborn the man could be. “I’ve kind of been a dick this past week.”

“Kind of?” Oliver stopped in his path to the bar to glare at Barry. “Right, sorry. Continue.”

“This has got to be tough on you, and my attitude towards it probably didn’t make it any easier. So, I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Barry said, surprising himself, and Oliver too judging by his reaction. “I shouldn’t have been there tonight. I wasn’t ready. I just needed to prove myself I think.”

Oliver took a second to observe the kid in front of him. And he really was just that. A kid who has barely experienced the world, being thrown into the worst of it with nothing more than a ‘Good luck.’

“There’s nothing you need to prove. Not to us at least.” Oliver reached under the bar to pull out a bottle and two glasses, pouring one and offering it to Barry. “Life sucks, but you just have to take it one hit at a time. I’d say you have a bit of an advantage.”

Barry didn’t respond to that, instead taking the glass with a small laugh. “The owner probably won’t like you taking her alcohol very much.”

“She’s my sister, I’m sure she’s fine with it. You are 21, right?”

“Very funny.”

“Look Barry, I might not agree with the methods, but the results speak for themselves. You have a chance to do some real good, be a hero. Once you get a hold of what you can do, you’ll be able to save people in a flash.”

For the first time since everything started, Barry allowed himself to feel a little hope. “You think?”

**  
**“Of course. Just maybe not here. One vigilante in Starling is enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. The end. It's over. This is pretty big, considering how often I do multi chapter stories (read as: never) Originally, this was going to be two chapters, but I really wanted to get this finished today, so I smushed it all into one. The plan was to get it up before The Flash premiered, but, well, I have a bad habit of getting distracted (I blame Fullmetal Alchemist. It's my new obsession) Thank you all again for sticking around staying with me. If The Flash gives me as much wonderful things to work with as Arrow does, you'll be hearing from me again soon.


End file.
